


A Quiet Conversation

by afteriwake



Series: bathe my soul in colours [6]
Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: Advice, Conversations, Established Anthea/Mycroft Holmes, Eventual Sherlock Holmes/Molly Hooper, F/M, Female Friendship, Gen, Late Night Conversations, POV Molly, POV Molly Hooper, Relationship Advice, Relationship Discussions, Reveal, Soul Bond, Soulmates, Talking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-07
Updated: 2016-03-07
Packaged: 2018-05-25 09:36:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,535
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6189376
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/afteriwake/pseuds/afteriwake
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After the masquerade ball Molly and Andrea talk about the fact they’ve both discovered their soul mates and the situations they’re in.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Quiet Conversation

**Author's Note:**

> This was a lot of fun to write! And now at least one half of the Sherlock/Molly ship know who the other one is. It's going to be fun dragging out Sherlock finding out about Molly... But anyway, this was written for Day 2 of Sherlolly Appreciation Week.

The world seemed so much more cheerful even as her mood had dimmed. It seemed such a contradiction in terms, really. The ballroom at Lord Habersham’s home had lit up in a blaze of glory after the brief but curt encounter with the sour masked man, but try as she might she’d spent the next few hours looking for him while fulfilling her duties to Andrea and had ended up leaving the ball heartbroken that she had no idea who the mystery man who was her soul mate was. She had only gotten the barest of glimpses at him, and he had not worn an elaborate mask, as had most of the guests, electing for a simple domino mask. The only features she could remember were curly dark hair and mesmerizing blue eyes. Or were they green?

Oh, she hated that she couldn’t remember. This was her bloody soul mate! She should have his features burned into her memory!

She had dismissed her maid and was sitting at her vanity, brushing out her hair. It was unfair, it really was. She had hoped when she finally found her soul mate, _if_ she ever found him…or her…she would at _least_ know what they looked like. Or their name. And she was left with no details whatsoever. It was so disheartening, especially considering she had never thought she would ever find hers in the first place.

Her parents had doted on her when she was young. She came from moderate wealth, though not as much as other members of her family. Though she didn’t mind; what mattered more was she had the love and unconditional support of her family. When her interest began to veer at a young age towards…well, _unladylike_ interests, she was afraid her parents would try and dissuade her, but they didn’t. They gave her their full support, as did her Uncle Albert. They hired her the best tutors, made sure she got the best education possible. Even when her father fell ill, Uncle Albert took care of financing her education. He declared if she wanted to become a doctor he’d damn well ensure she became a doctor.

And then her father died, and she almost decided to scrap her dreams. But her mother and uncle encouraged her to persevere. Her educational choices were limited, but eventually she found schooling, found a way to get the medical degree she so desperately wanted. And while she was in medical school she discovered pathology, and the field of forensic pathology. She was fascinated with the idea of using medicine to help solve crimes and decided to make that her field of study. Many tried to dissuade her from her work, saying it was no place for a woman. She was told there would be no job opportunities in the United Kingdom, but that suited her just fine.

When she graduated she traveled. She went wherever she could find work, finally settling in Toronto. She did well there, making a name for herself. There were still those who scoffed at the idea that a _woman_ could head a laboratory like that, could do autopsies and make deductions and do the field work, but she quite easily put their concerns to rest. And her reputation spread. Yes, she knew she was an oddity, and there were those who would always be convinced that there was a man pulling her strings, but she would show them. She would show them all.

She would have stayed in Toronto if she could, but her mother, God rest her soul, had passed, and she would soon lose her Uncle Albert as well. He had no other living relatives; her mother had been his only other sibling and she had not met her soul mate before tonight, not carried on the line. If she did not meet him again, not have offspring of her own, the line of Ashcroft would die with her, Margaret Elizabeth Hooper, which would be a shame, she supposed. It was a noble line, a line that had done great things for Queen and country. A line she was proud to be a part of.

She was pulled from her thoughts by the knock at her door. “Come in,” she said, having a good idea who it was. Her uncle had only one house guest at the moment: Andrea, who was the daughter of a man he had known well back in days gone by, and as they had been working together at the masquerade ball she assumed she wanted her report for her uncle. The door opened and Andrea walked in, a knowing smile on her face. Margaret tilted her head. “You look like the cat that swallowed the canary.”

“I believe something happened to you tonight, did it not?” Andrea asked, her grin growing wider when Margaret felt her eyes widen.

“You know!” she said, her hand gripping the back of her chair. “You know the identity of my soul mate!”

“I do indeed,” Andrea said, moving to the edge of the bed and sitting down upon it. “You will be most surprised to learn that it is William Holmes, also known as Sherlock, the world’s only consulting detective. Also known as the younger brother to _my_ soul mate.”

“Unbelievable,” Molly said, shaking her head. What were the odds of this? They had to be astronomical, for her soul mate to be the brother of Andrea’s. She turned more and set her hands on top of the back of her chair, then rested her chin on them. “Does _he_ know that _I_ am his soul mate?”

Andrea shook her head. “No. He interrupted a rather intimate moment and then scurried off before I could say anything. I didn’t see either of them the rest of the evening, and then I discovered you had left the ball before I did so I couldn’t tell you while they were still there.”

Margaret flushed slightly. “My apologies. I just…don’t do well with crowds. And I never have anything to say to people there. No one wants to hear about dead bodies or vicious crimes or science experiments.”

“Your soul mate might,” Andrea said, tilting her head.

“Oh?” Molly asked.

“His brother intimated he finds those subjects to be quite fascinating when we spoke yesterday,” she replied. “It’s part of his career as a consulting detective. I don’t think he would find your interest in the subject at all morbid or disturbing.”

“He would be the first,” she said.

Andrea looked at her intently. “Are you going to track him down?” she asked.

Margaret was quiet for a moment “I don’t know,” she said softly. “I know he’ll understand my job, but would he understand about…?”

“Ah,” Andrea said knowingly. “Your dalliance. I see.” Andrea got off the bed and knelt near the chair. Molly lifted her chin off her hands and turned to face Andrea. “My soul mate knows I was married, for my protection, in case my father died before I had found my soul mate. And people marry other people who are not their soul mates all the time.”

“But I didn’t marry him,” she said quietly. “I was rebelling, after my father died. I’m not suitable for marriage. I’m not…pure.”

Andrea reached over and grasped Margaret’s hands in hers, clasping them. “Somehow, I think that William won’t care about purity. He strikes me as being atypical of men from the ton. And if he is a snobby prat…well, you’ve met him. You can see your colour now. Perhaps that’s all you need from him. You’ve lived a good live so far. As Mycroft told me tonight, it’s almost a new century. Perhaps it’s time for new values.”

Margaret gave her a fond smile. “Mycroft?”

Andrea laughed softly. “I think he might like me to be a bit less formal with him, even though we barely know each other. It’s rather refreshing.”

Margaret played with Andrea’s fingers slightly. “What’s it like with him?”

“He’s very nice,” Andrea said with a wide smile. “When I’m with him I feel…complete. Whole. As if the part of me that wasn’t all there is finally a part of me now. And I feel…light. As though I’m floating among the clouds. I would almost say I’m deliriously happy. It’s everything they say it is, and more.”

“Then maybe I’ll reach out to William,” Margaret said.

“You should,” Andrea said, squeezing her hands. She stood up slightly and kissed Molly’s forehead. “Get some rest. We have more activities tomorrow to get more information for your uncle.”

Margaret nodded. “All right. Should I tell you what I learned in the morning?”

“We’ll go over it together with Lord Ashcroft over breakfast, I think,” Anthea said, standing fully upright before she let go of Margaret’s hands. She turned and then went to her bedroom door. When she got there, she paused. “Good night, Molly.”

“Good night, Andrea,” she said. With that, Andrea opened the door and left, leaving her alone to her thoughts again. She had a name for her soul mate now, William Holmes. The question was, did she have the courage to reach out to him?


End file.
